Can I Keep Him
Long ago, on a late summer afternoon when I was about six or seven, I sat digging in the dirt with a big silver serving spoon. The spoon was slipped past mom because “Spoons are for food and shovels are for digging.”
The dirt was incredibly hard and dry.
After scratching the surface with very little effect, I went and got the garden hose. The dirt bubbled and hissed as it drank in the cool water.
Feeling quite refreshed, I started to dig once again. How much softer and rich the earth had become! Almost as smooth as a chocolate bar warmed by the heat of the sun, soft to the touch and waiting to ooze from it’s wrapper.
The excavation continued until I found a leather like foot with small claws. Deeper I forged into the cave created by my silver spoon. Soon a long muscular leg appeared and started to move. Quickly I began to dig, intent on freeing this poor creature from his chocolate abyss.
Startled, he wanted only to run. I threw my silver spoon in a effort to use both hands. Gotcha!
I filled a large jar with water and gently placed him in. Quickly I ran to show my mom my well earned treasure. “Can I Keep it?” I both asked and proclaimed. “Oh no!” she cried.
Little did I know that toads don’t live in water.
We quickly put him in a dirt filled box and watched him for a few days. We fed him crickets or an easier catch of potato bugs. But he wasn’t very happy. I let him go in the evening. He was meant to live free and not in a box. He was supposed to catch his own food and yes, even dig deep into the earth for a long rest called hibernation.
Tags: toad
November 19th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
you should’ve kissed him, he may have turned into a handsome prince!